The beauty/makeup community is in an absolute state of rampant consoomerism.
For some background, "makeup influencers" first began to rise on Youtube in the late 00s. Michelle Phan was the biggest name in the game and became an early youtube celebrity with her makeup tutorials. These tutorials were a huge step above getting advice from a magazine and were loved by many girls who had never learned how to apply makeup well, and found that the people making these tutorials were more relatable than professional makeup artists and celebrities. At this time, most tutorials by girls like Phan would say stuff like "use a dark brown eyeshadow here" or "start with your favorite base foundation". They would have a few specific recommendations here or there, but the focus was largely on good technique over using specific products.
Things have... changed. Companies caught into the fact that these influencers were not only popular, but easily buyable, creating a new channel to advertise products. Tutorials became more focused on specific products and product lines. That brown eyeshadow now had to be from the latest Anastasia Beverly Hills palette ($65). Oh, and now you don't just need that, you need a primer before you apply the shadow, a setter for after you apply it, six other shades, and these 4 specific branded brushes, all to get the right look. Then came haul videos and a huge increase in the amount of "luxury" beauty brands and makeup lines available. This all happened around the time "Instagram face" makeup became popular as well, I guess justifying the need for an ever-increasing arsenal of must-have beauty products for the perfect face. Stuff that was barely even used a few years ago like Highlight became must-have products with people stocking up on all the different brands. It all shifted from technique to brand and just acquiring massive hoards of (the right) product. It's gone from actually using and creating to hoarding and consooming.
Now something that's really important to mention is that MAKEUP EXPIRES. It does not last forever. Now, to what extent is debatable; powders can last a pretty long time, but stuff like liquid lipsticks can expire in as little as six months!! Mascara dries out on its own in just a few months. Anything liquid has a shelf life. Anything that's a cream can dry out or go bad. And this stuff can smell or even get moldy if it goes bad. You might as well be a food collector.
Another important thing is that makeup companies will re-release the same shades over and over in different palettes, as single shades, or with slightly different branding, but really dedicated consoomers will still buy an eyeshadow palette that's 60% already stuff they own and 30% colors they aren't interested in.
All that being said, here are some examples....
Massive eyeshadow collection. ONE eyeshadow palette can take over two years to finish if you are using it every day. So this is several lifetimes worth of eyeshadow. Skip around and notice how many times she "loves" a palette that looks like it has been barely touched.
Makeup room
Makeup influencers love to do "decluttering" videos where they throw away all the shit they used only once so they can buy more shit to put in its place later:
Getting rid of £1,000 of makeup
"I'm very well aware of all the makeup that I have"
(I just grabbed random examples btw, I didn't watch these, but they are all over youtube)
Now you might say well this is their job and they get all that product for free. And you might be right. But that's not the whole story, as non-influencers get sucked into the product treadmill and buy 50 eyeshadow palettes and 70 lipsticks that they can never use.
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Now I don't want to throw too much shade at r/MakeupRehab as the sub is mostly people who are trying to NOT spend more money on makeup. But the sub is absolutely full of people who spent hundreds or thousands on makeup, and they are regretting because they can't use it.
The makeup community also has a lot of crossover with other notorious consoomer things. Here's a high end Star Wars collection
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The lipsticks in this photo are $40 each, the small shadow palettes are $65 and the large one is $125
Funko Pop makeup:
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Avengers Makeup:
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